Daily Deduction

Expirations, Compliance and Corporations

EXPIRE Act mark-up today, more on extenders next week.The Senate Finance Committee will begin its mark-up of chair Ron Wyden’s plan for restoring dozens of tax breaks that expired last December. He proposed killing only a handful and supporters are already gearing up to save them. On April 8, House Ways & Means chair Dave Camp holds a hearing to examine the “Benefits of Permanent Tax Policy for America’s Job Creators,” specifically the “expired business tax provisions that are either made permanent or are provided long-term extensions under the discussion draft of the Tax Reform Act of 2014.”

IRS boss on the administration of ACA: We’ll need to do far more with far less. Commissioner John Koskinen called Affordable Care Act enforcement a non-negotiable top priority, and promises the IRS will do its job in spite of a funding shortage, reports Bloomberg.Koskinen spokeat the National Press Club yesterday. Starting with 2014 returns (filed next year) the IRS will impose a tax penalty on those who don’t have insurance. It must also ensure that filers claim the correct amount of ACA subsidies.

FATCA talks have been hit by Ukraine fallout, but the sun is shining elsewhere. A Russian newspaper reports that the United States has suspended talks with Russia about exchanging tax information required by the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, according to Reuters. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov would like to talk about it when he visits the US next week. Meanwhile the Bahamas expects FATCA completion by next week.

Which causes more harm, the tax code or the tax-lowering corporation? That was the crux of the hours-long conversation this week led by Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) during the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations hearing with Caterpillar, Inc. Some might argue the tax code should “first, do no harm:” Register or watch live tomorrow’s TPC/American Enterprise event, “Major surgery needed: A call for structural reform of the US corporate income tax.”